Thread: Employee Pay Idea

My opinion on thus bonus program for equipment etc.. is its more trouble than its worth.. like someone mentioned your trying to micromanage yourself too much.. pay your guys a good fair wage based on experience, knowledge, productiveness.. part of taking care of equipment should be mandatory... You should allow time for taking care of equip.
I used to work for a guy who didn't ever wanna allow extra time for maint on stuff, but somehow when it broke down it was the techs fault.. Funny he wanted to start an "incentive " program too.. but his program started deducting from your pay for each "point" you got for something wrong.. example.. a service call was 10 points.. no matter what the call was for...

The best bonus plan I have seen or been on was a production bonus.. anything you got over your daily quota was banked on the production board.. once you hit a days quota in the bank you could take a friday off without using personal time or cash it in for 10% of the total in pay.. quota was 1100 a day so you could get an extra 110.00 on your check if you wanted.. Now if you kept coming up short you had to work a Saturday once you hit 800 short in the bank.

Rain days or weather related days didn't count against you either. Nor personal days you were sick or what not..Posted via Mobile Device

I would never pay an employee a bonus for showing up on time. I would give them 3 chances a quarter and the 4th time they show up late, they are gone. As far as a bonus program goes, I am considering it myself. I am going to base it off of accounts retained and factor in profit after all expenses paid (So destroying equipment will hurt the employees bonus).

First of all if you tell an employee we pull out at 7:30 he better be there. We don't wait for them. If they can't make it on time then they are not someone I would want to keep.

As for the equipment bonus. A lot of responsibility falls on you as the owner to keep up with everyday wear and tear. Mistakes happen and you can't fault them for a belt breaking or nail in a tire.

Why not just say that you give a Christmas bonus of a certain amount. Maybe $100 per month. This bonus is based on how well and hard they work or production. You would then dock the bonus for problems that come up..... If "ms smith" calls all the time to complain about the edging or weeds in beds take some off.

If Mrs smith calls all the time about 1 persons edging or weeds in the bed you need to have a talk with that person. Now if Mrs smith is an old lady that just likes attention then what do you do?Posted via Mobile Device

i work directly with people working for me i am a small operation so at most its me and 3 employees working at a time. if i see abuse i stop it right away but if a machine does break (besides normal wear and tear) i pay for the parts and have the employee come in on his time to assist in the repair. I have found that this works very well and they end up respecting the equipment. i have found that employees dont think about how it gets repaired they just know that it broke and within a few days it gets fixed. having them come in on their time to work on it they understand more that all of the nice equipment takes work to keep that way. as far as being late.....well after a few times they will be let go

If Mrs smith calls all the time about 1 persons edging or weeds in the bed you need to have a talk with that person. Now if Mrs smith is an old lady that just likes attention then what do you do?Posted via Mobile Device

Obviously if an employee's quality of work was unsatisfactory and we couldn't correct it then he would be let go.

I was just saying that I would reward employees who work hard and maybe do extra without being asked. At the same time I would deduct for times when slacking off or complaints came up.

i work directly with people working for me i am a small operation so at most its me and 3 employees working at a time. if i see abuse i stop it right away but if a machine does break (besides normal wear and tear) i pay for the parts and have the employee come in on his time to assist in the repair. I have found that this works very well and they end up respecting the equipment. i have found that employees dont think about how it gets repaired they just know that it broke and within a few days it gets fixed. having them come in on their time to work on it they understand more that all of the nice equipment takes work to keep that way. as far as being late.....well after a few times they will be let go

I agree with you but I pay and train all my employees to do minor supervised maintenance on the equipment. During slow times we discuss common problems and things to look for. The more familiar a operator is with the machine the more likely he will notice a change and possible need for maintenance and repair. We assign equipment to each worker rather than each crew. This way accountability comes to play and changes can be addressed. ( worker #1, " The mower was lacking some power compared to other days today.")
We discuss what to check and troubleshooting. Any maintenance item must be documented on a quick 2 second form on our employees page on our website that they can fill out by there mobile phones or paper form in the truck box. No repairs are to be made unless it is a easy thing like switching a broken or slipped belt.

If they damage the equipment, I currently have them help me fix it but any time you have an employee come in to work they should be paid. I don't know if they volunteer to come in on a weekend or something but either way they should know the extent and inconvenience there recklessness caused.

And this is why I proposed the idea to have an "equipment bonus."

It sounds like a lot of people are thinking that this is a bonus on top of what their normally wage is. The point and idea that I was trying to get across is that with the combined bonuses they will earn their regular wage. If you have a slacker every now and then he isn't worth as much to you. If he is consistently late or breaks equipment all time he needs to go. But lets say you normally pay someone $13.50 an hour. You would pay them $10 an hour on payroll then they would get 25% ($2.50/hr) equipment bonus and 10%($1.00/hr) on time bonus. So after everything is calculated they are still getting $13.50 an hour but if they break equipment or are late then you are able to use than money that would have gone in their bonus to pay for equipment breaks and inconvenience.

If you hire 2 people and pay them the same hourly rate but one is late 1 to 3 times a month and the other is always on time or one of your workers equipment seems to be aging and need replacing of non maintenance parts faster than the other workers, which employee is worth more to you and saves you money. You can't just deduct wages, but you can decide not to give bonuses, but the bonus equals out to their normally paid hourly wage. This is an incentive to help the business grow, show professionalism, pride and respect for working for your company. If someone asks well I can work anywhere else and get paid without the risk of losing a "bonus", I would say well I am more likely to pay you more because a company with employees that save on repairs and other overhead cost means more money for the payroll budget.

First of all if you tell an employee we pull out at 7:30 he better be there. We don't wait for them. If they can't make it on time then they are not someone I would want to keep.

As for the equipment bonus. A lot of responsibility falls on you as the owner to keep up with everyday wear and tear. Mistakes happen and you can't fault them for a belt breaking or nail in a tire.

Why not just say that you give a Christmas bonus of a certain amount. Maybe $100 per month. This bonus is based on how well and hard they work or production. You would then dock the bonus for problems that come up..... If "ms smith" calls all the time to complain about the edging or weeds in beds take some off.

Breaking a belt or nail in a tire would not be an accident. I'm talking about something like neglect.
-Employee tears up the side of the trailer because he is loading equipment to fast.
-Back pack blower pieces broke due to swinging the machine into the back of the truck.

They have a maintenance check that they are supposed to due periodically to weekly before they leave the shop. (Kinda like a DOT inspection list, only for your equipment.)
Just regular stuff that is right from the manual.
-Tire pressure, oil, etc.

Although I like your idea on production bonus how would you measure that? I feel like that would be more micromanaging then my proposed method.
If I paid bonuses monthly this is what would happen. If a piece of equipment is neglected and a part needed to be replaced you can use up to the full bonus amount the employee would have earned that month to help pay for repairs. (mechanic labor and parts). This way you do not need to budget these extra unforeseen costs into your overhead and you can save money.